VulnerabilityPublished 18 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-8860: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer

Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.3 Low : upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 to 10.1.0 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.3Low

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 5% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 10.1.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade qemu to 10.1.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
qemu	Affected >=10.0.0 <10.1.0	Fixed in 10.1.0

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-8860, European organizations should prioritize the following actions: 1) Apply security patches from QEMU vendors promptly once available to ensure the heap buffer is properly zeroed before use. 2) Implement strict access controls and limit local user privileges within guest virtual machines to reduce the risk of exploitation. 3) Employ memory isolation and sandboxing techniques to minimize data leakage between processes and virtual machines. 4) Conduct regular security audits and code reviews focusing on memory management practices in virtualization components. 5) Monitor virtual environments for unusual read operations on UEFI-related registers that could indicate exploitation attempts. 6) For organizations using multi-tenant cloud services, verify that providers have addressed this vulnerability and enforce tenant isolation policies. 7) Consider using security-hardened QEMU builds or alternative virtualization solutions with robust memory handling. These measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on the specific nature of the vulnerability and the operational context of QEMU-based virtualization.

Description

A flaw was found in QEMU in the uefi-vars virtual device. When the guest writes to register UEFI_VARS_REG_BUFFER_SIZE, the .write callback `uefi_vars_write` is invoked. The function allocates a heap buffer without zeroing the memory, leaving the buffer filled with residual data from prior allocations. When the guest later reads from register UEFI_VARS_REG_PIO_BUFFER_TRANSFER, the .read callback `uefi_vars_read` returns leftover metadata or other sensitive process memory from the previously allocated buffer, leading to an information disclosure vulnerability.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-8860 lies in potential information leakage within virtualized environments using QEMU 10.0.0. Organizations relying on QEMU for cloud infrastructure, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), or multi-tenant hosting could face risks of sensitive metadata or process memory exposure between virtual machines or processes. Although the vulnerability requires local access and has a low severity rating, it could aid attackers in reconnaissance or lateral movement by revealing sensitive information. This is particularly concerning for sectors handling sensitive data such as finance, healthcare, and government institutions. The impact on confidentiality is limited but non-negligible in environments where strict data isolation is critical. Integrity and availability are not affected. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the vulnerability could be leveraged in targeted attacks if combined with other vulnerabilities. European organizations with stringent data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR) must consider the risk of inadvertent data exposure and potential compliance implications.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 18 Feb 2026, 21:26 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats